Challenged & banned books 2010

Challenged & Banned Books

2009-2010

Celebrate Banned Books Week

Read a Banned Book!

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Books Banned or Challenged Books 2009-2010 ala.org/bbooks

UIUC Call Number – B A5846A1Location: Undergraduate Library

Maya Angelou

Restricted to students with parental permission at the Ocean View School District middle school libraries in Huntington Beach, CA (2009) because the “book’s contents were inappropriate for children.” Challenged in the Newman-Crows Landing, CA School District (2009) on a required reading list presented by the Orestimba High English Department. A trustee questioned the qualifications of Orestimba staff to teach a novel depicting African American culture.

The Absolutely True Diary

of a Part Time Indian


Retained on the summer reading list at Antioch, IL High School (2009) despite objections from several parents who found its language vulgar and racist. In response to concerns, however, the district will form a committee each March to review future summer reading assignments. The committee, which will include parents, would decide whether parents should be warned if a book contains possibly objectionable material.

Sherman Alexie

UIUC Call Number – Fiction AL2752aLocation: Uni High

The Tortilla Curtain


UIUC Call Number – 813 B6972t1996 Location: Undergraduate Library

T. Coraghessan Boyle

Challenged on the Santa Rosa, CA High School reading list (2010). A review committee approved the continued use of the book with the following guidelines: “The teacher must appropriately prepare students for parts of the book that may be considered provocative; limit the book to juniors and seniors; should a parent object to the book, board policy is currently in place that allows a student to be excused from the book assignment, and provides for an alternative assignment without penalty to the student.”

Banned Books Week 2010 is the 29th annual celebration of the freedom to read. This freedom, not only to choose what we read, but also to select from a full array of possibilities, is firmly rooted in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Twisted


Laurie Halse Anderson

UIUC Call Number – S. An239tLocation: Education S Collection

Withdrawn from classroom use and the approved curriculum at the Montgomery County, KY High School (2009), but available at the high school library and student book club. Some parents have complained about five novels that contain foul language and cover topics — including sex, child abuse, suicide, and drug abuse — deemed unsuited for discussion in coed high school classes. They also contend that the books don’t provide the intellectual challenge and rigor that students need in college preparatory classes.

Baby Be-Bop


UIUC Call Number – Fiction B622b1997Location: Uni High Fiction

Francesca Lia Block Four Wisconsin men belonging to the Christian Civil Liberties Union (CCLU) sought $30,000 apiece for emotional distress they suffered from the West Bend, WI Community Memorial Library (2009) for displaying a copy of the book. The claim states that,“specific words used in the book are derogatory and slanderous to all males.” The CCLU called for the public burning of this title. Four months later, the library board unanimously voted 9–0 to maintain, “without removing, relocating, labeling, or otherwise restricting access,” this and other books challenged in the young adult section at the West Bend Community Memorial Library

The Joy of Sex


Simon & Schuster Crown

UIUC Call Number – 613.96 C734jLocation: Undergraduate Library

Restricted minors’ access in the Topeka & Shawnee County, KS Public Library (2009) because the organization Kansans for Common Sense contended that the material is “harmful to minors under state law.” Later the board voted 6–3 in favor of adopting a staff recommendation to keep the books where they are currently located on the shelves in the library’s Health Information Neighborhood section.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, in Texas v. Johnson, said, “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

Individuals may restrict what they themselves or their children read, but they must not call on governmental or public agencies to prevent others from reading or seeing that material.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in

America


UIUC Call Number – 305.569092 Eh84n2002 Location: Undergraduate Library

Barbara Ehrenreich

Challenged at the Easton, PA School District (2010), but retained despite a parent’s claim the book promotes “economic fallacies” and socialist ideas, as well as advocating the use of illegal drugs and belittling Christians.

Anne Frank: The Diary

of a Young Girl


Anne Frank

UIUC Call Number – 812 G6252dLocation: Undergraduate Library

Initially, it was reported that officials have decided to stop assigning a version of Anne Frank’s diary, one of the most enduring symbols of the atrocities of the Nazi regime, due to the complaint that the book includes sexual material and homosexual themes. The director of instruction announced the edition, published on the fiftieth anniversary of Frank’s death in a concentration camp, will not be used in the future despite the fact the school system did not follow its own policy for handling complaints. The remarks set off a hailstorm of criticism online and brought international attention to the 7,600-student school system in rural Virginia. The superintendent said, however, that the book will remain a part of the English classes, although it may be taught at a different grade level.

Aura


UIUC Call Number – 869.1 F95AEKLocation: Undergraduate Library

Carlos Fuentes

Banned from the curriculum in Puerto Rican public high schools (2009) along with four other books because of coarse language. Written by one of Latin America’s most prominent contemporary writers, the novel contains a brief romantic encounter beneath a crucifix. It is a scene that prompted Mexico’s former interior secretary to try to have the book dropped from a reading list at his daughter’s private school, without success. Fuentes said that the attempt boosted sales of the book.

Although we enjoy an increasing quantity and availability of information and reading material, we must remain vigilant to ensure that access to this material is preserved;

Would-be censors who continue to threaten the freedom to read come from all quarters and all political persuasions. Even if well intentioned, censors try to limit the freedom of others to choose what they read, see, or hear.

Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary


Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff

UIUC Call Number – Main Reference Location:423 W39col2003 OR Credo Online Database

Pulled from the Menifee, CA Union School District (2010) because a parent complained when a child came across the term “oral sex.” Officials said the district is forming a committee to consider a permanent classroom ban of the dictionary.

Jubilee


UIUC Call Number – 813 W1532JLocation: Undergraduate Library

Margaret Walker

Challenged at the Jacksonville, IL High School (2010) by a pastor who said he found the fictionalized story of the author’s grandmother, who was born as a slave in Georgia, “offensive” and “trashy” and a novel about the way of life in the Old South. “We believe it is to promote superiority for white people and to step on black people and make them feel inferior.” The Ku Klux Klan challenged the novel in South Carolina in 1977 because it produces “racial strife and hatred.”

The Glass Castle: A Memoir


Jeannette Walls

UIUC Call Number – 362.82092 W159gLocation: Main Stacks

Challenged at the William S. Hart Union High School District in Saugus, CA (2009) as required summer reading for the honors English program. The 2005 memoir chronicles the author’s harsh childhood and family life and includes profanity, criticisms of Christianity, and accounts of sexual abuse andprostitution. Students have the option of alternative assignments that still meet objectives and teaching goals.

Challenges are as important to document as actual bannings, in which a book is removed from the shelves of a library or bookstore or from the curriculum at a school.

Attempts to censor can lead to voluntary restriction of expression by those who seek to avoid controversy;in these cases, material may not be published at all or may not be purchased by a bookstore, library, or school district.

Running with Scissors


UIUC Call Number – 811.08 R875Location: Undergrad Library

Challenged as a suggested reading in a class where juniors and seniors earn college credit in Hillsborough County, FL (2010). Four high schools voted to keep the book and place a “Mature Reader” label on the front cover. Three high schools will require parental consent. Two high schools voted to ban the book. The book was banned at one because, “This book has extremely inappropriate content for a high school media center collection. The book contained explicit homosexual and heterosexual situations, profanity, underage drinking and smoking, extreme moral shortcomings, child molesters, graphic pedophile situations and total lack of negative consequences throughout the book.”

Augusten Burroughs

Hills Like White Elephants: A Short

Story: The Complete Short

Stories of Ernest Hemingway


UIUC Call Number – 813 H37CLocation: Undergraduate Library

Pulled from a Litchfield, NH High School classroom after parents voiced their concerns about a short-stories unit called “Love/ Gender/Family Unit” that dealt with subject matters including abortion, cannibalism, homosexuality & drug use. The parents said the stories promoted bad behavior & a “political agenda ” and they shouldn’t be incorporated into classroom teachings. The Campbell High School English curriculum adviser eventually resigned.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower


UIUC Call Number – 813 C399pe Location: Allen Hall

Stephen Chbosky

The novel chronicles the freshman year of high school of a young man struggling with awkwardness & the changing world around him. The book contains frank and sometimes explicit descriptions of sex, drugs, suicide & masturbation. •Removed from Portage, IN classrooms for topics such as drug use, homosexuality, & sexual behavior. •Challenged at the West Bend, WI library as “obscene or child pornography” in a section designated “Young Adults.” •Challenged on Wyoming, OH high school district’s suggested reading list. •Restricted at 2 high schools in Roanoke, VA to juniors & seniors.

Take Action!Protect Your Right to Read

Each day, all across the country, one of our most basic freedoms — the right to read — is in danger. In communities large and small, censorship attempts every year threaten to undermine our freedom to read. Without our constant support, the First Amendment freedoms that we so often take for granted — the right to read, explore ideas, and express ourselves freely — are at risk.

The Bean Trees


Barbara Kingsolver

UIUC Call Number – 813 K617BLocation: Undergraduate Library

Challenged at the William S. Hart Union High School District in Saugus, CA (2009) as required summer reading for the honors English program because the novel includes sexual scenes and vulgar language. Students have the option of alternative assignments that still meet objectives and teaching goals.

Mein Kampf

UIUC Call Number – 943.085 H675WH1EC1941 Location: Main Stacks

Hitler, Adolf

Plans by German scholars to reprint as an academic treatise were rejected by the state copyright holders (2009), who said a new edition of the book could fuel support for far-right groups. The Bavarian authorities reaffirmed a sixty-four-year-old ban on the book after the Munich-based Institute of Contemporary History, or IFZ, applied for permission to reprint the work.


A Prayer for Owen Meany

UIUC Call Number – 813 IR84PLocation: Undergraduate Library

John Irving

Removed from the Pelham, MA school districtrecommended summer reading list (2009) after aparent complained about the novel’s objectionablelanguage and sexuality.


The challenges documented in this list are not brought by people merely expressing a point of view; rather, they represent requests to remove materials from schools or libraries, thus restricting access to them by others.

Even when the eventual outcome allows the book to stay on the library shelves and even when the person is a lone protester, the censorship attempt is real.

Someone has tried to

restrict another person’s ability to choose.

The Cartoons That Shook the World

Jytte Klausen

UIUC Call Number – 363.4 K668cLocation: Communications Library

Yale University Press removed twelve cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad from an upcoming book about how they caused outrage across the Muslim world, citing fears of violence. A Danish newspaper originally published the cartoons — including one depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban — in 2005. Other Western publications reprinted them. The following year, the cartoons triggered massive protests from Morocco to Indonesia. Rioters torched Danish and other Western diplomatic missions. Some Muslim countries boycotted Danish products. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry


And Tango Makes Three

Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Challenged, but retained in the North Kansas City, MO schools despite a parent’s concern that the book wasn’t age-appropriate, didn’t follow the district’s policy on human sexuality education, and tries to indoctrinate children about homosexuality. The illustrated book is based on a true story of two male penguins that adopted an abandoned egg at New York City’s Central Park in the late 1990s. In subsequent discussions, the schools appear to be headed towards segregating elementary school libraries according to “age appropriateness.” Students might be restricted to view or check out materials in their own age-class or younger.

UIUC Call Number – Q. SE. R394t Location: Education S Collection


ttyl

LaurenMyracle

UIUC Call Number – Fiction M996t Location: Uni High

Challenged, but retained at the John Muir Middle School library in Wausau, WI despite a parent’s request that the book be removed because of sexually explicit content. The author said, “The book’s dialogue about sex and alcohol is frank but the characters criticize those who engage in those behaviors.”

Retained in the Ponus Ridge Middle School library in Norwalk, CN While many critics decry its style as “grammatically incorrect,” most who take exception point to its foul language, sexual content, and questionable sexual behavior.

It is the first book written entirely in the format of instant messaging.


Banned Books Week on Facebook

The Bookseller of Kabul

UIUC Call Number – 958.1 Se42b:E Location: Main Stacks

Åsne Seierstad

Challenged, but retained on Wyoming, OH high school district’s reading list (2009) despite concerns about its sexual content. After a second challenge to a different title, the district reviewed all books on reading lists. Staff members rated each book on its relationship to the course, its uniqueness, its appropriateness, and the extent to which it “could create controversy among students, parents, and community groups.”


Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen

Comics from an Unpleasant AgeAriel Schrag

Pulled from the school library collections at two Sioux Falls, SD public middle schools (2009). The book is the work of sixteen cartoonists who recreated true tales from their middle-school years. The book’s major themes are bullying and boy-girl awkwardness. Masturbation and marijuana show up in passing, and several of the vignettes include words most parents wouldn’t want to hear from their children.

UIUC Call Number – Q. S.741.5 St937sLocation: Education S Collection


Living Dead Girl

Elizabeth Scott

Challenged, but retained at the Effingham, IL Helen Matthes Library (2009) despite concerns about its graphic content and the unsatisfactory ending. The book is about a fifteen-year-old’s perspective of living with her captor after being forcibly kidnapped and imprisoned at the age of ten. The book has received several accolades from book critics.

UIUC Call Number – S. Sco838lLocation: Center for Children’s Books


The League of Extraordinary

Gentlemen: Black Dossier Alan Moore

A petition with 950 signatures was presented to the Jessamine County Public Library Board (KY) to overturn its collection policy. The petition specifically asked for the removal of four works on the grounds that they “offended me in that they depict sexual acts and/or describe such acts in a way that in my opinion are contrary to the Jessamine County public opinion” of what should be in a public, taxpayer-supported collection. The petition concluded the works constituted a public safety issue in that they encourage sexual predators. Two employees were fired for breaching library policies, the library director was threatened with physical harm, and the book was recataloged, along with other graphic novels with mature trends, to a separate but unrestricted graphic novels section of the library.

UIUC Call Number –741.5973 M7811bd Location: Undergraduate Library


Song of Solomon

Toni Morrison

Reinstated in a Shelby, MI Advanced Placement English curriculum (2009), but parents are to be informed in writing and at a meeting about the book’s content. Students not wanting to read the book can choose an alternative without academic penalty. The superintendent had suspended the book from the curriculum.

UIUC Call Number – 813 M834550 Location: Undergraduate Library


And when we take action to preserve our precious freedoms, we become

participants in the ongoing evolution of our democratic

society

When we speak up to protect the right to read we not only defend our individual right to free

expression, we demonstrate tolerance

and respect for opposing points of view.

I Like Guys: A Short Story

from NakedDavid Sedaris

Pulled from a Litchfield, NH high school classroom after parents voiced their concerns about a short-stories unit called “Love/ Gender/Family Unit” that dealt with subject matters including abortion, cannibalism, homosexuality, and drug use. The parents said the stories promoted bad behavior and a “political agenda” and they shouldn’t be incorporated into classroom teachings. The English curriculum adviser said the short story was selected not only for its tone and style, but also its message of respect and acceptance, not for advocating homosexuality.

UIUC Call Number – 818 Se28nLocation: Undergraduate Library


Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems

WritersCorps

A middle school principal in Vineyard, NJ removed two pages that included the poem “Diary of an Abusive Stepfather” after a thirteen-year-old Landis student’s mother questioned its appropriateness. The 31-line poem is peppered with profanity and details a violent relationship between an adult and child.

Retained in North Fond du Lac, WI provided it has a label designating it as appropriate for high school students. Younger students could also access the book with prior parental permission. A parent asked the school district to reconsider the book due to mature language.

UIUC Call Number – (On order) Location:


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lay.html

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Or view the source bibliography “Books Challenged or Banned in 2009–2010 ” at http://bit.ly/99WWq5